Uniform Documentary Credits Guide

This 121-page guide was issued by the Central Bank of Syria as its first edition in 2018. It governs how documentary credits are handled by banks operating in Syria: it defines the credit, its parties, its types and its payment terms, sets the basics every bank must observe when issuing one, and devotes a chapter to the Sharia provisions governing issuance by Islamic banks and the approved structures for executing them.

CHAM BANK works to this guide in everything concerning documentary credits, alongside its own Sharia Board's rulings on credits and bills.

1. The purpose of a documentary credit.
2. Documentary credits in Syria.
3. The Uniform Customs and Practice for documentary credits.
4. Definition of a documentary credit.
5. Advantages and risks.
6. The parties to the credit cycle — importer (applicant) and the obligations on them before requesting issuance; exporter (beneficiary); issuing bank; advising bank; confirming bank; nominated bank; reimbursing bank.
7. Types by undertaking — unconfirmed and confirmed credits.
8. Types by use — including red-clause and green-clause credits.
9. Payment terms — at sight, deferred payment, acceptance, and by negotiation (sight and term negotiation).
10. Expiry of the credit.
11. Amending the credit, and the considerations banks must observe when doing so.
12. General interpretations, and their relationship to the recognised international rules and practice.
13. Sharia provisions on issuance by Islamic banks — credits on the importer's own funding, and credits on a murabaha basis, each with its Sharia procedures.
14. The approved structures for executing credits at Islamic banks in Syria.
15. Resolving disputes arising from execution in Syria — the jurisdiction of the banking courts and of the administrative courts.

• The basics applied by all banks in Syria on issuance, checking the import licence, and the document evidencing the commercial agreement between applicant and beneficiary.
• The principal documents presented under a documentary credit.
• The SWIFT message templates used in issuance.
• Points on incoming (export) credits, and the procedure for examining documents presented by the beneficiary.
• International delivery terms, including the arrival group.

The Central Bank's own edition governs. This page introduces the guide's chapters so its content is readable and searchable; the full 121-page text, with its tables and templates, is in the original below.